Each character in your play should speak with a unique voice.
That means individual speech patterns, favorite phrases, and things like that.
They way in which a character talks can say a lot about that character’s
emotions, thoughts, ideas, and relationships with others. What might it mean
when a character speaks in longer sentences? What about shorter – perhaps one
word – phrases? What about one who takes a lot of pauses as opposed to a
character who speaks quickly and without much stopping… or thinking? These
qualities of speech help to form individual personalities for each of your
characters, but also provide actors and directors with a number of cues about
how to portray the people of your play, as well as the tone of the scene, etc.
I am drawn to characters who don’t say much. By this I mean
those who don’t speak a lot in the play (don’t have many lines), or who answer
in short sentences. To me, when a character doesn’t speak it means that he or
she is thinking and that those thoughts may or may not always come out for the
audience to hear. Much like the unopened door, the unspoken line can be quite
powerful and bring the audience into the play.
As you go through a draft of your play and you find sections
where there may be a lot of talking, or that are in need of some intrigue and
excitement, see how silence might influence it.
Happy writing!
